Joe Biden reverses stand on abortion

Joe Biden reversed has declared he no longer supports a congressional ban on using federal funds to pay for abortions.

Joe Biden in Atlanta yesterday. Picture: AP

After two days of intense criticism, Democratic presidential candid­ate Joe Biden reversed course ­yesterday and declared he no longer supported a longstanding congressional ban on using federal funds to pay for abortions.

“If I believe healthcare is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment” that makes it harder for some women to access care, Mr Biden said at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Atlanta.

The former vice-president’s ­reversal on the Hyde Amendment came after rivals such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warrren and women’s rights groups blasted him for affirming through campaign aides that he still supported the decades-old budget provision. The dynamics had been certain to flare up at the Democrats’ first prim­ary debate in three weeks.

Mr Biden didn’t mention this week’s attacks, saying his decision was about healthcare, not politics. Yet the circumstances highlight the risks for a 76-year-old former vice-president who’s running as more of a centrist in a party where some sceptical activists openly question whether he can be the party standard-bearer in 2020.

And Mr Biden’s explanation tacitly repeated his critics’ arguments that the Hyde Amendment is another abortion barrier that disproportionately affects poor women and women of colour.

“I’ve been struggling with the problems that Hyde now presents,” he said, opening a speech dedicated mostly to voting rights and issues important to the black community. “I want to be clear: I make no apologies for my last position. I make no apologies for what I’m about to say.”

He argued that “circumstances have changed”, with Republican-run states — including Georgia, where Mr Biden spoke — adopting severe restrictions on abortion.

A Catholic who has wrestled publicly with abortion policy for decades, Mr Biden said he voted as a senator to support the Hyde Amendment because he believed that women would still have ­access to abortion even without insuranc­e and other federal healthcare grants, and that abortion opponents shouldn’t be compelled to pay for the procedure. It was part of what he has described as a “middle ground” on abortion.

Now, he says, there are too many barriers that threaten that constitutional right, leaving some women with no ­options as long as Republicans keep pushing for a ­repeal of the ­Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v Wade decision that legalised abortion.

Mr Biden said he arrived at the decision as part of developing an upcoming healthcare proposal. He has declared his support for a Medicare-like public option as the next step towards universal coverage.

He reasoned that his goal of universal coverage meant women must have full and fair access to care, including abortion.

A Planned Parenthood repres­entative applauded Mr Biden’s reversa­l but noted that he had been lagging behind the women’s rights movement on the issue.

“Happy to see Joe Biden embra­ce what we have long known to be true: Hyde blocks people — particularly women of colour and women with low income­s — from accessing safe, legal abortion care,” said Leana Wen of Planned Parenthood.

Other activists accepted credit for pushing Mr Biden on the issue. “We’re pleased that Joe Biden has joined the rest of the 2020 Democratic field in coalescing around the party’s core values — support for abortion rights, and the basic truth that reproductive freedom is fundamental to the pursuit of equality and economic security in this country,” said Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL, a leading abortion-rights advocacy group.

Republicans pounced, framing Mr Biden’s change in position as a gaffe. “He’s just not very good at this. Joe Biden is an existential threat to Joe Biden,” said Tim Murtaugh, the communications director for US President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.

A senior Biden campaign official said some aides were surprised at the speed of the reversal, given Mr Biden’s long history of explaining his abortion positions in terms of his faith.

But aides realised that, as the frontrunner, the attacks weren’t going to stop, and his campaign reasoned that the fallout within the Democratic primary outweighed any long-term benefit of maintaining his Hyde support.

Mr Biden’s position gained scrutiny when the American Civil Liberties Union circulated video of him telling an activist who asked about the Hyde Amendment that it should be repealed.

AP